41.4. Irregular plurals and ṈEN¸
Models
| 1) | SW͸ḴE¸ | ‘man’ | SEU¸W͸ḴE¸ | ‘a group of men’ |
| 2) | SWIU¸LES | ‘young man’ | SWO¸EU¸L¸ES | ‘a group of young men’ |
| 3) | ṈENE¸ | ‘son/daughter’ | ṈENṈENE¸ | ‘sons/daughters’ |
| 4) | SḴÁUŦ | ‘potato’ | ṈEN¸ SḴÁUŦ | ‘lots of potatoes’ |
‣ 1 The models here show a few of the plurals in SENĆOŦEN that do not fit any of the patterns shown in §41.1, §41.2, and §41.3. These must simply be considered irregular. They have to be memorized.
‣ 2 There are alternate forms of the plural for models 1 and 2. The word for ‘man’ in model 1 can also take the regular EL infix plural (§41.1)— SWEL͸ḴE¸. The same is true for model 2, ‘young man’—SWELIU¸LES. These regularized plurals are acceptable, but not used by the oldest recorded L1 speakers of SENĆOŦEN.
‣ 3 At first glance the plural in model 3 does not look irregular. It seems to have the C1EC2 form shown in the third set of models in §41.3. But look at the plural of model 3 here carefully and you will see that it is different. In all of the examples of plural reduplication shown in §41.3, none of them have stress on the first E. ṈENṈENE¸ is irregular because, unexpectedly, it has stress on the first E. This is, apparently, the only plural in SENĆOŦEN that is like this.
‣ 4 Model 4 shows one of the words in SENĆOŦEN that simply cannot take the infix or reduplication plural. If you want to talk about a group of these items, you just have to precede it with the word ṈEN¸ ‘many, lots,’ as model 4 shows.
‣ 5 Here is a list of words that have no special plural form:
‣ 2 There are alternate forms of the plural for models 1 and 2. The word for ‘man’ in model 1 can also take the regular EL infix plural (§41.1)— SWEL͸ḴE¸. The same is true for model 2, ‘young man’—SWELIU¸LES. These regularized plurals are acceptable, but not used by the oldest recorded L1 speakers of SENĆOŦEN.
‣ 3 At first glance the plural in model 3 does not look irregular. It seems to have the C1EC2 form shown in the third set of models in §41.3. But look at the plural of model 3 here carefully and you will see that it is different. In all of the examples of plural reduplication shown in §41.3, none of them have stress on the first E. ṈENṈENE¸ is irregular because, unexpectedly, it has stress on the first E. This is, apparently, the only plural in SENĆOŦEN that is like this.
‣ 4 Model 4 shows one of the words in SENĆOŦEN that simply cannot take the infix or reduplication plural. If you want to talk about a group of these items, you just have to precede it with the word ṈEN¸ ‘many, lots,’ as model 4 shows.
‣ 5 Here is a list of words that have no special plural form:
ȻEĆMIN ‘dancer’s rattle’
ȻEMȻEM ‘drum’
JODE¸ ‘clam stick’
ḴAḴ ‘baby’
LEMETU ‘sheep’
LEŚOS ‘angel’
ȽEKES ‘edible seaweed’
ṈAḴE¸ ‘snow’
ṈÁ¸EḴ ‘torch’
PḰȺ¸ ‘rotten wood’
QOL¸EW̱ ‘chum salmon’
SȻOME¸ ‘ratfish’
SḴEL¸ÁU¸ ‘beaver’
SMEĆE¸ ‘lump on a tree’
SŦIME¸ ‘ice’
ȾEMEȻE¸ ‘rockfish’
‣ 6 Remember that, unlike English, what we are calling the plural in SENĆOŦEN is not required when speaking of multiple items. So you can put ṈEN¸ in front of any nonplural noun to make it refer to ‘a bunch.’ For example, ṈEN¸SW͸ḴE¸ means the same thing as ṈEN¸ SEU¸W͸ḴE¸ ‘many men.’ȻEMȻEM ‘drum’
JODE¸ ‘clam stick’
ḴAḴ ‘baby’
LEMETU ‘sheep’
LEŚOS ‘angel’
ȽEKES ‘edible seaweed’
ṈAḴE¸ ‘snow’
ṈÁ¸EḴ ‘torch’
PḰȺ¸ ‘rotten wood’
QOL¸EW̱ ‘chum salmon’
SȻOME¸ ‘ratfish’
SḴEL¸ÁU¸ ‘beaver’
SMEĆE¸ ‘lump on a tree’
SŦIME¸ ‘ice’
ȾEMEȻE¸ ‘rockfish’
‣ 7 There are other variations of the plural infix and reduplication when it combines with the actual aspect (§42) or with the diminutive (§59.1).
 | QENÁLE OĆE SEU¸W͸ḴE¸ EN¸Á? | ‘How many men are coming?’ |
 | ÁN¸ U¸ ṈEN¸ I¸ ṈEN¸ SWO¸EU¸L¸ES. | ‘Very many, and many young men.’ |
| CUC ȽTE SE¸ ¸E TŦE ṈEN¸ S¸IȽEN. | ‘We’ll cook lots of food.’ |
| ÁN¸ U¸ QÁLI¸ SE¸. | ‘They will be very hungry.’ |
| 41.4A. Use each of the model plurals in this section in a sentence. 41.4B. Use the SENĆOŦEN dictionary to find four other nouns and use them in sentences with ṈEN¸. |